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Force the Banks Out of Standing Rock

Stand with the Sioux tribe and divest from mega-banks funding the Dakota Access Pipeline.

After months of Native American water protectors gathering in peace, prayer and solidarity to protect their sacred lands, the Obama administration announced on Dec. 4 that it’s sided with the Standing Rock Sioux and halted the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

A battle was won. But with a Trump administration looming, the fight isn’t over.

The president-elect has pledged to remove constraints on fossil fuel projects, and it’s likely he’ll try to reverse this decision once he takes office. But there’s something you can do to help stand up for life and for justice.

The controversial pipeline would be 1,170 miles long and cost $3.7 billion. A project of that scale doesn’t build itself. Behind the lead investor, Energy Transfer Partners, stand heavily armed police forces, sound-cannon trucks, water cannons, tear gas and attack dogs – and 38 banks funding it all.

That’s why the Institute for Policy Studies, where we work, is pulling its money from one of these banks – SunTrust – and switching to a more socially responsible institution. Banks that fund the planet-destroying fossil fuel economy and undermine Native American land rights aren’t the ones we should be doing business with.